Hotel connections that make business easy

By COLIN MOORE

Guests in the Towers rooms at the Sheraton Auckland have their own dedicated business centre that offers PC workstations and printers, an hour's complementary internet access for each stay and a fax machine.

All other rooms at the Sheraton Auckland have an internet (telephone) modem port and an infrared wireless internet keyboard which displays data on the room television.

Using the modem with your own laptop costs $3.60 to connect and a telephone charge of 85c a minute. Surfing the web on the room television costs $30.32 for a 24-hour period.

The hotel also has a self-contained business centre in the lobby that is open 24 hours a day. The centre, available to all guests, has a PC workstation and printer. Internet access costs $5 an hour.

At the Stamford Plaza, the rooms on the hotel's executive floor have telephone modems, printing facilities and internet and email access using a keyboard and the television screen as a monitor. PCs are also provided in an internet corner near the hotel lobby.

Internet access charges are a $10 flat fee for use in the internet corner or for in-room access, $14.95, plus GST, for the first hour and $7.35, plus GST, for every hour after that.

Guests staying on the Stamford executive level pay an additional $35, plus GST, a night on their standard room rate.

At the Carlton the room telephones have modem connections. There is no fee for connection and normal phone charges apply.

In the hotel's business centre, which is manned and includes a colour photocopier and laminator, internet access costs $5 for 30 minutes and $10 for an hour.